Preparations and Training

I have to be honest with you, I am probably the worst person I know when it comes to training. In fact, I don’t even ride very much. I have always been the person who rides for utilitarian reasons. I don’t have a car so I never drive, the bus is too slow and the train in Vancouver is pseudo-fascist, fear-inducing, police-patrolled, taser pleasure. I really love to ride, and love bikes, but I just don’t get out that often. I estimate that I ride about 12-18 km daily. With the odd weekend ride of about 70km. I don’t run, but I do play ice hockey, and I walk heaps (a pro-cycling no-no) so I think I’m probably in decent shape. One thing I do have on my side is genetics. I am very thin. I eat what I want when i want (which is now changing, as this tour approaches) and I am about 180cm (5’11”) tall and I have never ever weighed more than 69kg (152lbs) with normal clothes on. I weigh 66kg (145lbs) today, and I feel that’s quite normal.

To give you an idea of what this all means Lance Armstrong (not my favorite representative of pro-cycling but perhaps the most well known) has an ideal Tour De France weight of 67kg (147) and normally weighs around 76 (168). He loses around 9kg (20lbs) to get into optimum shape. The reason for this is some supposed “magical” ideal power/weight-per-ounce number of 6.7watts/kg. So, Lance somehow* can produce a sustained 448 watts. Me, well, I have no idea how much power I produce, and I really don’t need to know because I don’t race. But to give you and idea, when i rode fixed from Sweden to Spain I didn’t train at all, only commuting to school 8 km one way (16km daily) I arrived I Spain at around 62 kilos. So for me to be a pro, I would need to produce around 415 watts, which I’m sure I could only do with a big breakfast heap of EPO.**

Anyway, I’m going to start keeping track of my weight, what I eat and attempt to do some training. I don’t have a long time, my bike just got shifters yesterday, but I’ll do the best with what I can do. My plan is quite simple…ramp up the riding, then take a break.

** Rightfully or wrongfully there is a ton of suspicion and proof around pro-cycling and the use of performance enhancing substances. Me being a realistic person, and following the sport quite closely feels that everyone dopes, or they did until about 2 years ago. Now I think it’s probably around 80-85%. It’s just the way it is, but slowly it’s changing, I guess.